Introduction: Medical tourism is currently accepted as a developing industry. It describes the act of leaving home for treatment and care abroad. There are several factors that influence choice of destination for patients in medical tourism. Identification of these factors and prioritization according to importance weights could help international healthcare providers develop t...

We evaluated the factors influencing healthcare utilization among children aged < 5 years with pneumonia symptoms in Muntinlupa City, the Philippines. We interviewed 1,330 caregivers from 190 households per district in seven districts from March to April, 2009 using a standardized questionnaire to obtain information about demographic characteristics, access to healthcare facilities, and potenti...

Poor adherence (i.e., “the extent to which a person’s behaviour . . . corresponds with agreed recommendations from a healthcare provider” [1]) is a common problem in a range of healthcare settings, including those offering physiotherapy [2]. In fact, research has suggested that adherence to rehabilitation is as low as 30% [3]. A systematic review by Jack et al. [4] proposed that common barriers...

background increasing demand for limited healthcare resources raises questions about appropriate use of inpatient beds. in the first paediatric bed utilisation study at a regional university centre in ireland, we conducted a cross-sectional study to audit the utilisation of inpatient beds at the regional paediatric unit (rpu) in university hospital limerick (uhl), limerick, ireland and also exa...

background: health inequalitymonitoring especially in health care financing field is very important. hence, this study tends to assess the inequality in household's capacity to pay and out-of-pocket health carepaymentsin tehran metropolis. methods: this cross-sectional study was performed in 2013.thestudy population was selected by stratified cluster sampling, and they constitute the typical ho...

This paper describes the development and application of a simulation tool for modelling patient choice in healthcare systems. Patient choice is already offered in the English National Health Service (NHS) and proposed reforms will propel choice to the forefront of NHS re-structuring by offering it at all levels of treatment. A simulation model is proposed to study the effects of patient behavio...

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for more than three decades healthcare decentralization has been promoted in developing countries as a way of improving the financing and delivery of public healthcare. decision autonomy under healthcare decentralization would determine the role and scope of responsibility of local authorities. jalal mohammed, nicola north, and toni ashton analyze decision autonomy within decentralized services...

Accurate evaluation of healthcare information systems (HCIS) relies upon the choice of appropriate indicators. Iranian healthcare and health industry professionals were surveyed, by means of a descriptive cross sectional study, in order to identify the indicators they considered most relevant to the evaluation of healthcare information systems currently in use in Iran. It was concluded that eff...

The principle of respect for patient autonomy and the right of self-determination dominate medical decision-making in developed countries. The concept of prospective autonomy proposes that personal choices ought to inform healthcare decisions for decisionallyincapacitated patients. Such extension of patient’s autonomy is accomplished through advance directive and surrogate decisionmaking; patie...